Professional Development Update

We hope this newsletter finds you doing well and managing as best you can during these difficult times. We appreciate your dedication to your students and families as we all try to work through the challenges of this extraordinary situation. You have been at the forefront of our minds, and we want to make sure we do everything we can to support you. For some, that means taking advantage of opportunities and creating structure in our lives while schools are closed. To that end, we are providing this list of resources for those interested in pursuing professional development during this time. While this list is by no means comprehensive, we are pleased to provide these options for professional learning.

TEC has put together a few online facilitated courses which may be of interest to you in these times when you are not in the classroom.

All are facilitated by an instructor.

All carry optional credit from Worcester State for an additional fee.

All begin either March 27th or 28th; most end within a week.

STRICT REGISTRATION DEADLINE IS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25 at midnight. In order to prepare the course, we need that much time.

Drawing Outside of the Art Classroom

Begins March 27

Pre-K – grade 12 Educators

$275 for TEC Members

1 graduate credit for $125

30 PDPs

Click

Gr. 3-5 Math Workshop Make Over: Building Multiplication & Division Fact Fluency

Begins March 28

Gr. 3-5 teachers; math coaches; SpEd

$275 for TEC Members

1 graduate credit for $125

15 PDPs

Click

K-2 Math Workshop Make Over: Building Additional & Subtraction Fact Fluency

Begins March 28

K-2 teachers; Math coaches; SpEd

$275 for TEC Members

1 graduate credit for $125

15 PDPs

Click

Maximizing Working Memory, Language & Attention in the Classroom

Begins March 28

K-12 Educators

$275 for TEC Members

1 graduate credit for $125

15 PDPs

Click

Meeting ALL Students’ Needs in Reading Small Group Instruction

Begins March 28

K-5 Teachers; Literacy Coaches; SpEd

$275 for TEC Members

1 graduate credit for $125

15 PDPs

Click

Website Design and Management for the Educator

Begins March 27

All K-12 Educators

$360 for TEC Members

2 graduate credits for $250

30 PDPs

Click

FREE Professional Development Opportunities

As a Framingham Public Schools employee you have access to three online courses for FREE through our partnership with The Education Cooperative (TEC). The three courses are listed here:

• Strategies to Enhance Instruction for English Language Learners in the Classroom (15 PDPs)

• Engaging All Students with Differentiated Instruction (15 PDPs)

• Connecting Behavioral Health and Social Emotional Learning to Success in School (15 PDPs)

An additional course has been added:

Introduction to Coaching in Schools: Supporting Professional Learning & Growth though Coaching (15 PDPs) Use Key Code: TEC-FPS-1119

To access these courses please click here. You will then create an account using your FRAMINGHAM email address.

Canvas provides a wide range of options for staff members looking for an introduction to Canvas or to expand their knowledge of the platform. You can visit the Canvas Training Portal to access self-paced pathways, courses, and videos. A description of those options can be found here. Canvas also provides a more detailed Training Services Portal tutorial.

Interested in getting started? This guide will show you how.

Always remember that we have access to the Canvas Hotline (844-698-7476) and online Canvas support, so please feel free to contact them 24/7 with any questions you may have about this or any other topic!

Six on-demand eWorkshops are available to educators in participating states from Sept. 1, 2019 – Aug. 31, 2020. Relevant content for all educators: school leaders, coaches and facilitators, K-12 classroom teachers, ESL teachers and specialists, and professional learning communities. All workshops are available in the eLearning Center via the WIDA Secure Portal.

• Classroom Educators: Engaging Newcomer Multilingual Learners

• Developing Language for Learning in Mathematics

• Doing and Talking STEM

• Foundational Concepts

• Leading for Equity: Classroom Walkthrough

• Using the WIDA Writing Rubric

More information can be found here.

Curriculum Associates is offering several virtual professional development sessions each week to assist educators. These sessions include an Introduction to i-Ready Online Instruction, Supporting Students Away from School with i-Ready, as well as options for Ready Mathematics.

Multiple weekly sessions are offered for each program. More information can be found here.

iReady Central is Essential! Visit our content hubs to get 24/7 access to videos, tips, articles and how-tos!

For i-Ready Users: Visit i-Ready Central

For Ready Math Core Users: Visit Ready Central for Math

NAFSC is holding a webinar THIS WEDNESDAY, March 25. More details here.

FHAO webinars are free and last 60 minutes. Sign up for an upcoming webinar today to get introduced to new content and teaching strategies, and to engage with other educators and Facing History staff.

Upcoming webinars can be found here.

For the staff of Framingham High School:

While we are not currently able to assess students, this is an opportunity to enhance your skills with Mastery Manager for future use.

Here is the message from Goldstar Learning (aka Mastery Manager):

We wanted to send a quick note during this uncertain time to reassure you that our Support Team is available to assist you with any e-learning questions you may have. Sign in to Mastery Manager and click on any link below to help you get started.

• Resource Center
• Administering Answer Key Only Assessments, ACT Assessments, and Surveys Online
• Administering Item Bank Assessments Online
• Creating and Organizing Content in Item Bank 2
• Creating Item Bank Assessments
• Administering Item Bank Assessments Online

In addition to our Resource Center, we will be offering free, 30-minute webinars to get teachers set up with everything they may need for online testing. Below is our initial offering of webinars scheduled in CST. Click here to sign up for as many courses as you like. Please note, space is limited for each session.

Webinar Sessions:

Thursday, March 19:

• 2 pm: Administer Any Assessment Online

Friday, March 20:

• 9 am: Administer Any Assessment Online
• 1 pm: Create Item Bank Assessments

Monday, March 23:

• 9 am: Administer Any Assessment Online
• 1 pm: Create Item Bank Assessments
• 4 pm: Administer Item Bank Assessments Online

Tuesday, March 24:

• 11 am: Create Item Bank Assessments
• 1 pm: Administer Item Bank Assessments Online

Wednesday, March 25:

• 9 am: Administer Item Bank Assessments Online
• 1 pm: Create Item Bank Assessments
• 4 pm: Administer Any Assessment Online

Thursday, March 26:

• 11 am: Administer Any Assessment Online
• 2 pm: Administer Item Bank Assessments Online

Friday, March 27:

• 9 am: Create Item Bank Assessments
• 1 pm: Administer Item Bank Assessments Online

* We may increase webinar options as we continue to monitor interest.

Sign up for a Webinar

Our support team is committed to helping our educators and we can be reached by email at (support@goldstarlearning.com) or call (877-365-8745 option 3) with any questions you may have.

While this course won't begin until the summer, you can get a jump start and sign up via SmartEDU now!

PRDV 73328--Reading and Writing with English Learners in Secondary Classrooms Course Description:

Reading and writing tasks play a significant role in most secondary classrooms and present a particular set of challenges for English Learners who are in the process of acquiring academic proficiency in English. This course will enable participants to analyze the literacy demands of their content and make those demands more explicit and accessible for ELs. Participants will explore approaches and practices for developing reading skills and reading comprehension in English for ELs, as well as approaches and practice for using writing in sheltered content classrooms. Strategies for developing English vocabulary for ELs will also be explored, and participants will use the WIDA Framework and Standards in designing language objectives for lesson plans. 1 graduate credit from Framingham State University available.

Course Dates: 5 sessions: June 25, 26, 29, 30 July 1

Course Time: 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.

Amy Bright

Assistant Superintendent for Elementary Education

abright@framingham.k12.ma.us

Anne Ludes

Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education

aludes@framingham.k12.ma.us

Website: framingham.k12.ma.us
Phone: 508-626-9132